As a roofing contractor, you’ve spent years getting your hands dirty to build your business from the ground up. Chances are, you’re already well aware that bad weather brings unmatched potential for new business—but are you using it to your advantage?
Many of our clients in the home services industry tell us that weather-based marketing makes all the difference in their digital marketing strategies. Weather-based marketing ignites their campaigns, helping them stand out from the crowd and get in front of more leads. After all, the weather is virtually the only real-time data available to marketers.
Of course, there are countless other roofing companies out there, and each one is looking to cut through the noise. How can you help leads find you first? With the competition in the home services industry, how can you set yourself apart from a sea of roofing companies? Here’s a hint: You’re going to have to do things differently.
At the end of the day, taking a different approach to marketing from your competitors is going to set your brand apart and help you get noticed. Here’s what you need to know about weather-based marketing to effectively reach local homeowners after the next storm hits.
In today’s fiercely competitive digital marketing space, driving new business requires much more than simply broadcasting messages to an audience. The most successful companies are the ones that engage with customers with customized, contextually relevant experiences.
In other words, understanding your brand persona is only the first step. The real challenge is to understand where your ideal customers are, what they’re doing, and what they’re going to do next. This is where weather-based marketing can take your digital marketing strategy to the next level.
Weather is one of the most universal and motivating factors in the customer decision-making process. In fact, it’s the second-biggest influence on consumer behavior after the state of the economy. It affects where we go, what we wear, and what we buy. Especially for home services companies that flourish during storms and bad weather conditions, weather data is the perfect tool for contextual targeting.
Weather also provides valuable insights into customers’ moods, desires, and purchase intent at any given moment. So, it makes sense to utilize weather targeting to drive higher campaign returns and foster more meaningful customer interactions.
The demand for home services—even weather-neutral ones—is shaped by weather conditions. By upgrading your marketing strategy with weather-based ads, you’ll tailor your messages accordingly, resulting in a much more potent strategy.
Countless businesses have successfully used weather-based advertising to drive sales and boost conversions for years. For example, Bravissimo’s weather-triggered PPC ad campaign increased PPC-driven sales revenue for their swimwear by nearly 600%. Meanwhile, Pantene’s weather-targeted Google display ads led to a 28% increase in sales, along with 600,000+ social impressions.
With the right marketing campaign at your fingertips, you can get the right message out to the right people at the right time. And a message that delivers timely, relevant information—in a tone that resonates with the customer’s mood—will have a far greater impact. A strong weather-based campaign will build brand awareness, establishing you as a trusted local provider in your service area.
These types of ads “target that broad group of consumers with digital ads as they’re going about their day,” says John J. Antognoli, Senior Client Advisor at Company 119. Maybe they’re reading a local newspaper website or checking the forecast on weather.com in your zip code. These are all great places to start with weather-triggered ads—but any number of channels can help you raise brand awareness.
Depending on your location, your customers might need a new gutter system to take on storms or roof repair to restore their home after a hailstorm. Customers might be searching for roof replacement services after a severe windstorm or before a major downpour is predicted. These are just a few scenarios where weather-based marketing can give your roofing company an added advantage.
Adapting your marketing messages around weather events—whether you’re using PPC ads, social media posts, or email marketing blasts—helps convert leads with personalized, contextually relevant ads. That’s why weather-based marketing campaigns yield higher engagement rates across nearly every industry.
But before you sit back and let the phone calls pour in, you’ll need to put some work into omnichannel marketing.
“The omnichannel approach is really just a logical way to help consumers out,” according to Antognoli. “You are most helpful by being there when they need you—and this is made possible by an omnichannel approach.”
After all, when the storm clouds roll in, you want to be the first one people call for roofing services. Here’s how to set yourself up for success so you can step out in front of the competition.
For roofing companies, successful social media marketing involves building credibility, generating positive reviews, and reeling in new referrals. This is especially important during and after a storm.
When bad weather hits, consumers are more engaged with social media, and marketers can leverage this opportunity to build brand awareness. During a hailstorm, homeowners are trying to find the best ways to protect their homes from damage. And afterward, they’re using social media to research roofing companies in their area.
Now, without a powerful social media marketing strategy, you risk losing potential leads to the local competition. In other words, you’ll be missing out on thousands of dollars of revenue. After all, in today’s digital age, people are starting to visit your roofing company’s social media pages before they even visit your website.
Social media holds unrivaled power for generating brand awareness—so much power that some larger companies even outsource their social media pages. So, you’ll need to transform your social media pages into strategic, cost-effective marketing tools. If you’re just getting started, Facebook advertising is a great way to get your foot in the door.
Don’t let a boring, outdated web design drive away potential leads. Before the storm hits, be sure to optimize your website design for conversion. Your customers should be able to easily navigate across different pages of your website, find your contact information, and access your frequently asked questions (FAQ) page. And, of course, powerful calls to action should separate your roofing company from the local competition and tell customers exactly why they should hire you.
If you haven’t already optimized your site for mobile usage, this is your sign. When local homeowners pick up their phones to check the latest weather forecast, they’re going to want answers. How much do hail-damaged roofing repairs cost? When does a roof need to be replaced? Does insurance pay for roof replacements after a storm?
Google doesn’t want to send mobile users to websites that are frustrating to navigate—that would damage its promise to deliver helpful, useful content. Your mobile website should provide a responsive, relevant, and actionable experience. As a roofing contractor, you want to help leads find exactly what they’re looking for as quickly as possible.
To top it all off, you’re going to need a landing page tailored to storm-damaged roofing services within your service area. Once you’ve filled this landing page with informative, engaging, SEO-optimized content, it should rank effortlessly. If you don’t have this page already, use this time to prepare for the next storm.
Building brand awareness ultimately boils down to research. When a storm hits, find out which specific zip codes in your service area have been affected. Find out which houses might have been damaged and whether insurance can replace their roofs.
Think of research as your secret ingredient to a potent marketing campaign. By figuring out which segments to target, you’ll avoid wasting your hard-earned advertising dollars on homeowners who don’t need your services. Be intentional about getting your business in front of the right people. Your job is to help homeowners who need a new roof—or who are searching for roof repair—find you as easily as possible.
Once you’ve pinpointed specific zip codes, target your display ads accordingly. Your ads should target homeowners searching for storm-damaged roof services. When they click on the ad, you’ll redirect them to the landing page for your storm-damaged roofing services.
Your landing page should feature some engaging content—like a video of you in the area explaining exactly how you can help homeowners—to keep leads from clicking away from your page. On this landing page, you’ll want to leave a strong call to action, along with easy-to-follow instructions for contacting you (i.e., by calling a phone number or filling out a lead form).
After your city’s last hailstorm, your ideal prospects were on their phones, searching Google for professional roofing companies near them. Was your business anywhere to be found? If your business doesn’t show up on the first page of Google search results, you don’t even exist to local homeowners.
Content creation is the foundation of local SEO success—and it’s the best way to drive potential leads to your website. Content marketing might sound intimidating, but it just means marketing your company with useful information—whether that’s an instructional video on DIY gutter repair or a blog post on hail damage. Think about what your customers want to know, and then create engaging content that answers those questions.
When creating content, you’re going to want to hit all the right keywords that homeowners searching for emergency roof repair might use, including:
Of course, “winning” at local SEO requires a careful approach with long-term goals. Chances are, your competitors are already doing it, so you’ll need to put in the effort to get it right. Once you start doing SEO better than your competitors, you’ll see your company at the top of popular search engines like Google, Yahoo!, and Bing. When someone pulls out their phone or sits down at their computer to search for a roofing company, they’re going to find you first.
To get started, take a look at the cities in your service area that you do the most business in. In times of crisis, homeowners are going to choose a trusted local service provider to get the job done right. With strategic keyword analysis, on- and off-page optimization, and quality content creation, local SEO will boost traffic to your website and guide potential leads straight through the sales funnel.
Local SEO works for you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. And with the right local SEO strategy, you’ll ensure your roofing company is found online before anyone else. Once you gain the upper hand in local SEO, you’ll start generating more qualified leads than ever before.
Programmatic advertising is the opposite of traditional advertising. Buyers utilize an automated bidding system to purchase ad slots. Then, the system uses an algorithm to determine ad placements and opportunities in real time. This results in time wasted on negotiations and paperwork.
“Programmatic is incredibly versatile—it can support the entire customer acquisition funnel, including remarketing to past customers or specifically targeting those who are actively ‘in market’ for their services,” says Antognoli.
The best part of programmatic advertising for roofers? You can instantly respond to changes in weather conditions. Imagine that a hailstorm hits a neighborhood in your service area. If you have an ad ready to go, you’ll be able to turn on your campaign to target local homeowners already researching roof replacement services.
Our clients love programmatic advertising because it saves them precious time, money, and resources. When the weather is warm and sunny—and nobody’s thinking about repairing their roof—you can turn your campaign off. Then, at the exact moment a storm rolls in, you can turn it back on. This helps our clients avoid wasting advertising dollars trying to reach customers that aren’t interested in roofing services.
It’s worth noting that this benefit is not limited to roofers. Many businesses in the home services industry, including power washers and gutter cleaning companies, can benefit from the customization and nimbleness allowed by programmatic. For example, The Gutter Boys and Pristine Clean—both owned and operated by the same management team in Northeast Ohio—decided to utilize programmatic ads to better respond to the current weather in the cities they target. They took what they know—that less people are thinking about power washing or gutter cleaning when the snow is falling and temps are freezing—and used that to their advantage, focusing their spend on times when users are highly likely to be interested in their services.
Programmatic ads are ideal for marketing both seasonally and locally. Because you can create them so quickly, it’s easy to use PPC ads to take advantage of ongoing or upcoming weather conditions. Is hail in the forecast next week? Quickly put up an ad campaign for 20 percent off roof inspections. Is a long stretch of warm, sunny weather coming? Remind leads that now is the perfect time to start any home projects they’ve been putting off.
Roofing contractors are constantly hunting for qualified leads, but are storm damage leads really worth it? If you’re looking to grow your business, you’ll need to take a step back and understand what you’re getting into.
Many roofing companies that market storm damage services offer to work with insurance companies on behalf of the client. If you’re new to the storm damage niche, this piece of the puzzle is going to feel overwhelming—at least at first. You’ll need to assess the roof insurance claim, negotiate with the claims adjuster, and mutually agree on an adjusted scope of work. Sure, it takes time, but mastering the art of insurance negotiation is well worth it—and it’ll give your company a huge advantage over the competition.
Weather-based marketing can help you get in front of the right people at the right time, but you’ll want to avoid labeling yourself as a “storm chaser,” as this term carries a negative connotation in the roofing industry. Storm chasers visit areas recently affected by storm damage to collect insurance money in exchange for roof services. Also, keep in mind that attempting to capitalize on catastrophic weather events, such as tornadoes or hurricanes, might backfire.
Here’s how to avoid risking your reputation:
Ultimately, storm damage leads are legit, and branding your roofing company as a trustworthy local provider will make you the top choice for these jobs whenever weather strikes in your service area.
No homeowner looks forward to a downpour or windstorm, but they’re a natural part of the weather cycle. Having a local roofer they can trust can help alleviate stress for families. And once you establish your business as competent and reputable, they won’t think twice before hiring you.
For roofing contractors, weather is one of the most powerful tools in marketing. Businesses across every industry are utilizing weather data—and more and more advertising platforms are rolling out weather-targeting capabilities.
When you fuel your growth with a purposeful marketing campaign, you’ll save yourself time, money, and endless amounts of energy. And with intentional ads that transform bad weather into a valuable business opportunity, you’ll effortlessly scale your business and maximize your ROI. Let us know how we can support you as you tap into the potential of weather-based marketing for your roofing company or other home services business—reach out to our team at any time with questions or ideas.
